Introduction

Over the years I have met a lot of people who have asked me the question, which church should I go to, or which is the real true church, or something similar. As people begin to notice what seems like short comings in their congregations, and hear attacks on their leaders they start to wonder where they can get access to the true church of God.

Instead of just giving a blanket answer, I have decided to give a comprehensive bible based teaching that can help such a person in making a decision, with scriptural understanding of where they stand in God.

The Church vs Churches vs Denominations

When a person is asking where they can find a good church, what they are really asking for, is a good denomination. It is therefore necessary for me to first clarify the difference between The Church, Churches and Denominations.
This Teaching is going to be in three sections. 

Part 1 will deal with The Church, which is the Body of Christ.
Part 2 will deal with churches, which are local congregations within The Church and Body of Christ.
Part 3 will deal with denominations and in this section I will then answer the question on how to choose a good church.

Part 1-THE CHURCH

The word church comes from the greek word Ekklesia, which means gathering. In this case, it refers to the gathering of born again believers.

The moment you are born again, you automatically become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Your name becomes written in heaven and your spirit becomes gathered together with the spirits of all who are in Christ. 

Hebrews 12:22-24
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn,whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel

When a person is born again, they receive the Holy Spirit and by his spirit they are baptised into Christ, into his church, into his body. 

 1 Corinthians 12:13
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

1 Corinthians 6:17
17 But whoever is united
with the Lord is one with him in spirit

This Church of Jesus is built by Jesus Christ himself.

Mathew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock *I will build my church,* and the gates of Hades will not overcome it

Jesus Christ is the The Apostle, The Prophet, Head Pastor and High Priest of The Church.

Hebrews 3:1
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

1 Peter 2:2-4
2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the *Chief Shepherd* appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

The greek word translated as Shepherd in that scripture is the exact same word translated as Pastor. So when you say Pastor, you are saying Shephered

This Universal worldwide church which is gathered in the spirit of Christ, whose names are written in heaven, is the one that Christ will come to get at rapture. And at rapture, that is the time when we shall all at one time see and gather physically together with Christ.

(1 Thessalonians 3:13-18)

Structure of The Church

In this church of Christ, which is his body, he has set different gifts and roles for different people.

1 Corinthians 12:27-28 NKJV
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

Notice that everyone who is in the church of Christ has a role to play. The most ignored areas of gifting and calling are helps. People who serve in different areas such as ushering, cleaning, handling children, etc. That is a calling in itself, and God recognises it. Administrations, such as people doing accounting, managing properties and other things are also callings and ministries in the body and church of Jesus Christ.

Part 2-CHURCHES

In as much as we have The Church which is global and unites all born gain believers in Christ, we have local congregations which are also called churches.
When two or more believers come together to pray, they make up a church. The word church means gathering.

Mathew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”

In the early church, some gathered in Jerusalem, and were called the church in Jerusalem. Some gathered in Ephesus and were called, the church in Ephesus, and so on.

As each church gathering grew, they would have elders and bishops ordained, whom we would nowadays call, Pastors. These Bishops and elders were set by apostles or those like Timothy and Titus who had been anointed for such work by apostles.

ACTS 14:23
So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

However as you read the book of Acts, you will notice that apostles like Paul and Peter, prophets like Agabus, Evangelists like Philip and certain Teachers like Apollos would move around and minister to different churches, in different cities in order to benefit the whole body of Christ.

The Work of The Churches – Discipleship

There are many people who are seeking Spiritual fatherhood and mentorship, but Jesus left a system in place which provides all the benefits of these in one. It’s called Discipleship.

I wish more christians would seek and build discipleship. Jesus left his ministers with one main mandate. To make disciples of all nations.

Mathew 28:19 NET
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

While spiritual fatherhood and mentorship will mostly build men into the likeness and image of their Father and Mentor, Discipleship builds men into the likeness and image of Christ.

God has set Four Main Ministries which are meant to do this work of discipleship. The apostle Paul, explains also what this discipleship entails.

Ephesians 4:12-14
11 And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes

Let me breakdown the mandate of discipleship outlined in the scripture above.

1-To prepare saints for the work of Ministry.

This means that if you are called into the ministry of an apostle, prophet, pastor-teacher, administrator, helper, worker of miracles or speaker of tongues, God has given you four types of people who will prepare you for your work of ministry.
Much of what we are trying to find in a single person, is provided for in the combined work of Pastors, Teachers, Prophets, Apostles and Evangelists that God has placed in our lives. It is their Job to prepare us for the work of Ministry.

2-To build The Body

The body is the church. Christ is the head, and he works through The Fourfold ministers to build this church up, put things in order and structure. The apostle says until we come to the unity of the Faith and knowledge of the Son of God.

We build the church, by building people’s faith and building people’s knowledge of God.

I believe bible schools are great. But we should not have a small group of people who are meant to know more than everyone else. Jesus designed the local churches as ‘Bible Schools’ for all believers. 

Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Evangelists are the heads of this ‘bible school.’ And when they have done a good Job, all believers in the church must get to a point where they know the word and know Jesus Christ as much as they themselves know.

The apostle Paul declares at the end of his ministry:

Acts20:26-28
26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood

3- To Bring All Believers to Maturity- Full Stature of Christ
Everyone in the church must be brought to a point of maturity. Everyone. I repeat, everyone. This is the goal of the fourfold ministries.

Colossians 1:28
We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ.

When a person is mature in Christ, they are now fully grown in spirit and in knowledge of Christ.

A) Mature believers have a good understanding of the six fundamental doctrines of the faith.

Hebrews 6:1-2 NLT
6 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment

The six doctrines mentioned above, are the foundational doctrines that all baby Christians must receive and understand. After that, you now need to move on to mature subjects. The elementary doctrines are repentance, faith in God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection from the dead, eternal judgement.

Yet in our churches today, we will have people who are believers for 20 years, and yet have no idea what the scriptures say concerning those six doctrines. 

The writer of Hebrews was disappointed that he was having to teach these things again.

Hebrews 5:12-13 NIV
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

B) Mature Believers know right from wrong

Hebrews 5:14
14 But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil

Ephesians 4:14
14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

Once you have a good understanding of the elementary doctrines of Christ, you become able to tell wrong from right doctrine. And as you grow in fellowship with Christ and understanding of his word, even your spiritual senses grow, so you don’t need other people to tell you do this, or don’t do that. You know for yourself.

When the churches do great work of discipleship, through the four-fold ministries, you see a new generation of Teachers, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Helpers, Tongue Speakers and Interpreters rising and doing the same works and even greater works than you. 

If you can teach people until a point where they no longer need you and are no longer dependent on you, then you have done a great Job. 

Part 3-DENOMINATIONS

This is what has brought confusion to a lot of people: Denominations. Denominations are a result of people judging one another based on certain doctrinal or administrative differences, and choosing to worship separately from each other.

You can go to one building and have three different churches going on at the same time, in the same place. Sometimes those churches may have identical beliefs, but just different leaders. However, they can’t worship together. 

So, we have Roman Catholics, Reformation Churches, Methodists, Baptists, Evangelicals, Presbyterians, Adventists, Pentecostals, Neo Charismatics. 

Within these major denominational groups, there are further divisions and denominations.
All these are man made divisions, some of them were necessary to preserve the gospel, others were created out of desire for power.

However, this then brings us to the question at hand.

Which Church Should I Go To?

As I said at the beginning  when a person is asking, ‘which church should I go to?’ they are really asking, ‘which denomination should I go to?’

A) Find a church that believes and teaches the gospel

Firstly, it is important to establish that there is no particular denomination that saves you. The only one that saves is Jesus himself. And we are saved when we believe and stand in the message of the gospel. The gospel that saves us is described in the following scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:1-2
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

Romans 10:8-10,
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved

John 20:31
31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

We see this gospel being preached by Peter to the gentiles in Acts 10:34-44. After hearing just that message above, Cornelius and all those who heard it, received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The above points are essential for a person to believe, in order to be saved. So it is essential to go to a church that believes those things. There are thousands of denominations from around the world that believe the gospel message.

B) Find a church that Believes in the Baptism of The Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. 2 Corinthias 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:22.

Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Since he has been given to the believers as a guarantee, I advise going to a place that believes in the baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit in one way or the other. You will find thousands of churches that believe in the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the spirit.

C) Find a Church that believes in the Bible

God has given us the scriptures as a standard by which we can measure what is of God and what is not of God.

*2: Timothy 3:16*16 All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching the right way to live. 17 Using the Scriptures, those who serve God will be prepared and will have everything they need to do every good work.

Since scriptures are so important as described above, it’s good to find a church that believes in the bible as as given by God and values the scriptures. You will find thousands of churches that believe in the bible as God’s words to us.

Which Ministers Should I Follow?

When Jesus is allocating gifts, he doesn’t look at denominations, he just gives as he wills to all those who are in his body. God has set in HIS church Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers, etc. God’s church is global and is not divided according to denominations.

So in your denomination you may not find everything. Some denominations have great administrators, but they have no apostles. Some have great prophets but lack good teachers. Some have Pastors and Evangelists and no prophets.

So even though your denomination may lack some of these, you will find them scattered in the larger body and Church of Christ, probably placed in different denominations.

God set these people to serve the body, not to serve a denomination. So feel free to benefit from the gifts of teachers, prophets, evangelists and apostles who are in the body, though they do not belong to your denomination
However, scriptures teach us to AVOID certain types of ministers?

A) AVOID a preacher who teaches that Jesus is not the Christ the son of God

1 John 2:22
22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

B) AVOID a preacher who teaches the Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh

2 John 1:7-8
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8 Watch out, so that you do not lose the things we have worked for, but receive a full reward

C) Avoid a Preacher who says, He is the only one who can take you to heaven

Acts 4:11-12
11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

When it says, there is no other name given to mankind by which we must be saved, this even includes names of denominations. We are not saved by Methodist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal or all that. Those are places where believers meet. We are saved by Jesus alone.

It’s not Jesus+Prophet. NO. Its not Jesus+Salvation Army. No. It’s not Jesus+Apostle. No.

So avoid a person who says, “If you don’t follow me personally, you will go to hell” Such a person has made himself another Jesus.

CONCLUSION

In history we have many people who have tried to preach against denominationalism, but many of them, ended up unintentionally starting denominations that say, ‘we don’t believe in denominations.’

This is because, the only way you can be non-denominationalist, is by being inter-denominationalist. 
The only way to minister to the body of Christ outside of denominations, is if you are willing to minister to the body of Christ inside all denominations.

I pray you have been blessed by this teaching. Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you all, In Jesus mighty name. Amen.